TONY'S TAKE: PERSPECTIVE AND PERCEPTION
By Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired
Toronto-Canada
April 30, 2021
Outrageous Drug Overpricing: Dreadful stories about "continuous overpricing" of anti-viral drugs administered by some Philippine private hospitals on their COVID-19 patients. This situation has been exposed at the recent legislative hearings. Hospital bills run to millions of pesos for families of surviving or even deceased patients.
Though PhilHealth, the state-owned health insurance company created to implement universal health coverage in the Philippines, compensates the maximum of P786,384 for critical pneumonia, P333,519 for severe, P143,267 for moderate, and P43,997 for mild, the prevailing hospitalization costs and their life-saving drugs terribly remove these benefits. In that hearing, as reported by a journalist, a patient in Manila reportedly paid P32,227.17 for three shots of experimental "Remdesivir" or a colossal P10,852.39 for each dose.
The original price of this same brand was just P3,055 per dose, a glaring overprice of more than Php 7,800. From Laguna, 2 patients paid P12,090 for each dose of "Remdesivir" but another brand, whose original price was only P2,268. Another brand costing only P1,950 per dose was billed P9,500 in Zamboanga. Some patients in Quezon City were charged P14,625 up to over P15,000 per dose. There were also reports of “overcharging” of up to 770 percent, from original P6,200 to P48,241 per dose. The widely-used "Remdesivir", according to reports, still has no emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration(FDA).
Thus, patient victims and their families will pay directly as it is not covered by PhilHealth. The DOH issued a recently revised “suggested retail price” (SRP) on these COVID-19 drugs and one DOH bureaucrat told the legislative committee that hospitals said that "the wholesale price of these drugs are anywhere from only P2,000 to P5,000 per dose."Bakit ganito ang hindi tamang pagsunod sa Kagawaran ng Kalusugan "SRP-Suggested Retail Price" na sobra sa 700 porciento ang singil? Nasaan ang ang pamamalakad ng DOH? Kailangan dapat isauli o bayaran ang pasyente o ang pamilya? Anong ginagawa o may magagawa pa ba ang gobierno sa Pilipinas tungkol dito? Kailangan matigil na ito at maawa naman sila sa mga kababayan natin. Huwag naman sana silang ganid-na- ganid sa kasuwapangnan ! ".
2nd Expensive City: According to research by iPrice Group, an ECommerce data aggregator, "Manila is one of the most expensive cities to live in" despite having the lowest average salary for the working class relative to nations in Southeast Asia. Across Southeast Asia's 6 largest markets, the study shows that based on data gathered by iPrice, the capital of the Philippines has "the second-highest rent prices", next only to Singapore. In a statement, iPrice said that “it’s quite surprising that a developing country’s capital city, which is way behind Singapore in terms of economic development, has this situation in the region.
”The price of a one-bedroom apartment in the city center of Manila is 56 percent higher than Kuala Lumpur’( Malaysia), 47 percent higher than Jakarta’s(Indonesia), and 31 percent higher than Ho Chi Minh’s(Vietnam). and even 9 percent higher than Bangkok’s. Data on the estimated average monthly cost of living for a single person in Singapore of PHP 119,700, iPrice noted. The monthly cost of living in Bangkok is estimated at P51,500 per person taking into account every necessity such as rent, food, transportation, and utilities.
Manila is just 1 percent less expensive than Bangkok with an estimated monthly cost of P50,800 for a single person. Without rent, the total cost of living in Manila is estimated at Php 28,800 a month. The research noted that Manila’s cost of living stood 33percent higher than the cost in Kuala Lumpur, 28 percent higher than the cost in Vietnam, and 24 percent higher than in Jakarta. In terms of average salary, Manila is reported to have the lowest estimated average net salary among the other cities, estimated at only about Php 18,900 a month.
It comes as no surprise, given the data above, that about 35 percent of Metro Manila’s population is reported: "to live in unstable, badly constructed shelters in the slums and 11 percent of them reside near the railroad tracks, garbage dumps, renting bed spaces, and sharing rooms with others. ” Makikita dito sa pag-aaral kung anong klaseng pamumuhay ang meron sa mga taga Maynila kong comportable nga sila o hindi. Ano pa kaya and dinranas ng mga taga-Maynila para maibsan o mabawasan ang mahirap at mataas na pamumuhay kahit mababa ang kanilang suweldo?
BandAid Beauty! : Former Philippine Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, on April 15, 2021, has criticized the government "for wasting millions on the "fake dolomite beach in Manila Bay. The artificial white sand beach is part of a P389 million-peso project of the government to rehabilitate Manila Bay.
"With thousands infected and dying from COVID-19, and over 4 million out of work and needing "ayuda", the government is wasting millions on a fake Boracay "beach", the ex VP said. Binay further said that some people in the government “have lost not only their compassion and sense of priorities but their common sense.
” This comes after the government replenished the so-called Manila Bay “white sand beach” with fresh dolomite sand, months even after some criticisms from the environment and fisherfolk groups questioning the project. The Government earlier defended the multi-million project, saying it will benefit the Filipino people to "restore their mental health amid the coronavirus pandemic."What kind of mental health is that? "Nasaan nga naman ang prayoridad ng gobierno, isang malaking gastos sa walang katapusang at maling pagpa-ganda na walang kabuluhan kaysa sa isang mabuti at tunay na pagtulong sa maraming naghihirap na mga kababayan natin, lalo na sa panahon ng pandemya?"
Railway Project: The construction of the first phase of the Malolos-Clark Railway Project(MCRF) will begin during the second quarter of the year, according to Megawide, a Philippine construction, and infrastructure conglomerate. The project is a "crucial line that will link the suburb of the City of Malolos in Bulacan province to Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone( CEFZ)in Angeles, Mabalacat, and Porac in Pampanga.
" Megawide disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the combined contract for the services is valued at over P3.1 billion including costs associated with providing support facilities to a consortium of 2 engineering and construction companies. The Philippine conglomerate operates a 20-hectare industrial facility in Taytay, Rizal, which houses its main precast plant, other ancillary business, and a vast stockyard. It also maintains mobile and strategic site-based batching and precast plants for large-scale projects.
“Megawide will continue to leverage on its vertically-integrated construction advantage to deliver much-needed infrastructure projects like the MCRP, on time and with high quality and excellent workmanship", said the Megawide chair and CEO. He added that "we are ready to begin building a first-world railway in the country that every Filipino deserves. Talaga yatang tuloy-na-tuloy na ang pag-unlad ng Pilipinas hinggil sa mga proyectong infraistructura sa transportasyon. Ngunit ano naman ang ina-asahan natin tungkol sa pagpa-unlad ng pang-kabuhayan, pang-kalusugan, edukasyon, pagkain at hanapbuhay sa bansa?" ( Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired)
GLIMPSES ON DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES - NR 11
By Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired
Toronto-Canada
April 30, 2021
Outrageous Drug Overpricing: Dreadful stories about "continuous overpricing" of anti-viral drugs administered by some Philippine private hospitals on their COVID-19 patients. This situation has been exposed at the recent legislative hearings. Hospital bills run to millions of pesos for families of surviving or even deceased patients.
Though PhilHealth, the state-owned health insurance company created to implement universal health coverage in the Philippines, compensates the maximum of P786,384 for critical pneumonia, P333,519 for severe, P143,267 for moderate, and P43,997 for mild, the prevailing hospitalization costs and their life-saving drugs terribly remove these benefits. In that hearing, as reported by a journalist, a patient in Manila reportedly paid P32,227.17 for three shots of experimental "Remdesivir" or a colossal P10,852.39 for each dose.
The original price of this same brand was just P3,055 per dose, a glaring overprice of more than Php 7,800. From Laguna, 2 patients paid P12,090 for each dose of "Remdesivir" but another brand, whose original price was only P2,268. Another brand costing only P1,950 per dose was billed P9,500 in Zamboanga. Some patients in Quezon City were charged P14,625 up to over P15,000 per dose. There were also reports of “overcharging” of up to 770 percent, from original P6,200 to P48,241 per dose. The widely-used "Remdesivir", according to reports, still has no emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration(FDA).
Thus, patient victims and their families will pay directly as it is not covered by PhilHealth. The DOH issued a recently revised “suggested retail price” (SRP) on these COVID-19 drugs and one DOH bureaucrat told the legislative committee that hospitals said that "the wholesale price of these drugs are anywhere from only P2,000 to P5,000 per dose."Bakit ganito ang hindi tamang pagsunod sa Kagawaran ng Kalusugan "SRP-Suggested Retail Price" na sobra sa 700 porciento ang singil? Nasaan ang ang pamamalakad ng DOH? Kailangan dapat isauli o bayaran ang pasyente o ang pamilya? Anong ginagawa o may magagawa pa ba ang gobierno sa Pilipinas tungkol dito? Kailangan matigil na ito at maawa naman sila sa mga kababayan natin. Huwag naman sana silang ganid-na- ganid sa kasuwapangnan ! ".
2nd Expensive City: According to research by iPrice Group, an ECommerce data aggregator, "Manila is one of the most expensive cities to live in" despite having the lowest average salary for the working class relative to nations in Southeast Asia. Across Southeast Asia's 6 largest markets, the study shows that based on data gathered by iPrice, the capital of the Philippines has "the second-highest rent prices", next only to Singapore. In a statement, iPrice said that “it’s quite surprising that a developing country’s capital city, which is way behind Singapore in terms of economic development, has this situation in the region.
”The price of a one-bedroom apartment in the city center of Manila is 56 percent higher than Kuala Lumpur’( Malaysia), 47 percent higher than Jakarta’s(Indonesia), and 31 percent higher than Ho Chi Minh’s(Vietnam). and even 9 percent higher than Bangkok’s. Data on the estimated average monthly cost of living for a single person in Singapore of PHP 119,700, iPrice noted. The monthly cost of living in Bangkok is estimated at P51,500 per person taking into account every necessity such as rent, food, transportation, and utilities.
Manila is just 1 percent less expensive than Bangkok with an estimated monthly cost of P50,800 for a single person. Without rent, the total cost of living in Manila is estimated at Php 28,800 a month. The research noted that Manila’s cost of living stood 33percent higher than the cost in Kuala Lumpur, 28 percent higher than the cost in Vietnam, and 24 percent higher than in Jakarta. In terms of average salary, Manila is reported to have the lowest estimated average net salary among the other cities, estimated at only about Php 18,900 a month.
It comes as no surprise, given the data above, that about 35 percent of Metro Manila’s population is reported: "to live in unstable, badly constructed shelters in the slums and 11 percent of them reside near the railroad tracks, garbage dumps, renting bed spaces, and sharing rooms with others. ” Makikita dito sa pag-aaral kung anong klaseng pamumuhay ang meron sa mga taga Maynila kong comportable nga sila o hindi. Ano pa kaya and dinranas ng mga taga-Maynila para maibsan o mabawasan ang mahirap at mataas na pamumuhay kahit mababa ang kanilang suweldo?
BandAid Beauty! : Former Philippine Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, on April 15, 2021, has criticized the government "for wasting millions on the "fake dolomite beach in Manila Bay. The artificial white sand beach is part of a P389 million-peso project of the government to rehabilitate Manila Bay.
"With thousands infected and dying from COVID-19, and over 4 million out of work and needing "ayuda", the government is wasting millions on a fake Boracay "beach", the ex VP said. Binay further said that some people in the government “have lost not only their compassion and sense of priorities but their common sense.
” This comes after the government replenished the so-called Manila Bay “white sand beach” with fresh dolomite sand, months even after some criticisms from the environment and fisherfolk groups questioning the project. The Government earlier defended the multi-million project, saying it will benefit the Filipino people to "restore their mental health amid the coronavirus pandemic."What kind of mental health is that? "Nasaan nga naman ang prayoridad ng gobierno, isang malaking gastos sa walang katapusang at maling pagpa-ganda na walang kabuluhan kaysa sa isang mabuti at tunay na pagtulong sa maraming naghihirap na mga kababayan natin, lalo na sa panahon ng pandemya?"
Railway Project: The construction of the first phase of the Malolos-Clark Railway Project(MCRF) will begin during the second quarter of the year, according to Megawide, a Philippine construction, and infrastructure conglomerate. The project is a "crucial line that will link the suburb of the City of Malolos in Bulacan province to Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone( CEFZ)in Angeles, Mabalacat, and Porac in Pampanga.
" Megawide disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the combined contract for the services is valued at over P3.1 billion including costs associated with providing support facilities to a consortium of 2 engineering and construction companies. The Philippine conglomerate operates a 20-hectare industrial facility in Taytay, Rizal, which houses its main precast plant, other ancillary business, and a vast stockyard. It also maintains mobile and strategic site-based batching and precast plants for large-scale projects.
“Megawide will continue to leverage on its vertically-integrated construction advantage to deliver much-needed infrastructure projects like the MCRP, on time and with high quality and excellent workmanship", said the Megawide chair and CEO. He added that "we are ready to begin building a first-world railway in the country that every Filipino deserves. Talaga yatang tuloy-na-tuloy na ang pag-unlad ng Pilipinas hinggil sa mga proyectong infraistructura sa transportasyon. Ngunit ano naman ang ina-asahan natin tungkol sa pagpa-unlad ng pang-kabuhayan, pang-kalusugan, edukasyon, pagkain at hanapbuhay sa bansa?" ( Tony A. San Juan, OCT-Retired)